Abstract
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When travellers entrust their desire for a transport mode that is
customer-focused (i.e., reliable) to the Transport for NSW (TfNSW), this
creates a metaphorical contract between travellers and the TfNSW, known as
an agency contract. This contract is often characterised by agency uncertainty
because both are most likely to act in their own self-interest. It can be assumed
that where there is a high use of public transport, the TfNSW is performing the
entrusted tasks as per travellers’ demand, which indicates an improvement in
agency uncertainty. On the other hand, where there is a high use of private
transport, it is likely that the TfNSW is acting largely in its own self-interest,
and the agency problem remains unresolved. From the results, it is shown that
the probability of car use is significantly higher than public transport, which
indicates that an agency problem exists in the traveller-TfNSW relationship. It
is recommended that integrating traveller preferences in transport projects
would help to resolve this problem.